


him

by italicized



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Football, Hickies, High School, Homophobia, Homophobic!Grisha, Horny Teenagers, M/M, Romance, Secret Relationship, Smut, Swimming, Switching, Top Eren Yeager, football player!Eren, swimmer!eren, track
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-07-05 02:31:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15854412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/italicized/pseuds/italicized
Summary: Levi falls for another guy in his grade named Eren Jaeger. Unfortunately, neither of them are "out" so they have to keep their relationship a secret.Too bad that they suck at it.





	1. Jaeger

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write a story where Eren and Levi almost have an almost "forbidden" love and sneak into each others' houses basically every single night.

Levi didn’t know who Eren Jaeger was at the beginning of senior year. He had numerous classes with the kid ever since his freshman year, and yet, he knew nothing excluding his name and his appearance. Of course, Levi knew that he was a football player in the fall, a swimmer in the wintertime, and a track and field athlete in the spring since he was one of Shiganshina High’s most renowned athletes, but that was all. 

He also knew that Eren was always the topic of conversation amongst his female friends. Every single girl who Levi had ever spoken to had somewhat of a crush on the athlete. Not only was he incredibly smart in his studies, but he was also built more like a man rather than a teenage boy. His shoulders were broad and toned with muscle, his abdomen was taught with lean muscle, and his jaw was chiseled into a strong line. 

One of the most popular features that was spoken among girls wasn’t his body, but instead, his face. His features were incredibly symmetrical and strong in appearance, which made him incredibly easy to look at. However, nothing stood in competition to the teen’s gorgeous eyes. 

They were almost a hazel circling his pupil, and slowly transformed into a green the further that they extended. Levi had to guess that he was complemented on them almost every single day when he went out into public. Even at school, Levi heard girls talking to Eren by his locker and complementing his eyes- which was a strange way to flirt in Levi’s opinion, but who was he to judge. He hadn’t dated (let alone, flirt with) anyone since middle school, and even then, it had been one of his now close friends Hange (which was now on his list of the biggest regrets he ever made in life) so it didn’t really count.

Hange was nice about it when they broke up before freshman year, and they had been best friends ever since. Even though Levi found her incredibly annoying on some days, he had to admit that she was one of the best people he had ever met. She was always there for anyone and was never rude or mean to a single living soul unless they had done something to her, one of her friends, or family members. 

Plus, she was friends with just about everyone- including Eren Jaeger, meaning everyone loved her despite how weird she acted on some days… mostly because of her sense of humor and likeable personality. 

Despite all of this, Levi still knew nothing about Eren- nor did he care to learn. He was just another one of his classmates that he occasionally exchanged words with if he asked if they had homework that evening or had a group project with each other. Nothing more, nothing less. 

That was, until the second week of Levi’s senior year.

____________________________________

“They fucked up my schedule, again,” Levi stated to Hange as he sat down next to her in the cafeteria with his lunch. The room was full of teenagers chatting excitedly with their friends and eating the food that the school provided on foam, white trays. The food wasn’t incredible but it wasn’t dreadful either: a happy median that made you question yourself every time you took a bite, but also made you shrug and continue to eat despite your stomach’s warnings.

Hange swallowed the bite of sub sandwich that she had been chewing before Levi approached, “really? Isn’t that, like, the third time? What did they do now?” She took another bite before setting her sandwich down onto her tray. 

Shrugging, Levi sighed, “probably, I lost count,” he glanced down at his tray and picked up his carton of chocolate milk and opened it. He took a sip. It was surprisingly decent, “now they have me in two english classes... but the bright-side of it all is that, until they fix it, I get to, just, kind of hang out on campus for the whole period.”

“Wow,” Hange said with a laugh, “I’m jealous. All of my classes are AP and I have no little breaks in the day for anything like that. Last year I had online so I had a little bit of a mental break, but not much. Kinda sucks, ya know?” She glanced down at the floor and moved her foot away from a baby carrot that had fallen on the floor from a previous lunch hour. Levi watched her grimace and silently agreed, _yes, the custodians suck ass at their job. ___

__“So what are you going to do for that class? Are you going to take online or an elective?”_ _

__Levi just shook his head, “man, I don’t know. I’ll have to see if I need any more credits in any classes before I choose. I don’t wanna have to take classes this summer to make up for missed credits because I was too lazy to check.”_ _

__Hanji nodded, “good idea.”_ _

__Levi barely had enough time to finish his sandwich before the annoying squeal of the bell sent the room full of students onto their next class- which was psychology, in Levi’s case, one of his favorite classes. To have been able to take it, Levi had needed to be in advanced math and science classes, and since he was, he was quickly admitted into the class. The only downside of the whole thing was that the class was full of kids who thought that they were better than everyone else because of their 4.0 GPAs._ _

__He walked into the classroom and quickly took a seat in the back corner of the room before anyone else could steal the prized spot. It was too early in the school year for the teacher to have an assigned seating chart, and for that, Levi was thankful, because teachers always had the awful habit of sitting him in the middle of the classroom next to the most annoying kids in the whole school._ _

__Soon after he sat down, the rest of his classmates slowly started to pour in through the doors of the room and take their seats. The loners, like Levi, distanced themselves from everyone else, couples sat next to each other and slid their desks closer together, and groups of friends talked amongst themselves and cracked jokes until the professor waltzed into the classroom with a thick stack of white paper in his hands- most likely graded pretests from the previous week._ _

__Everyone slowly started to quiet down as Mr. Pixis started to take attendance. After he had went through everyone’s name, he passed back the pretests which left everyone laughing at their scores and competing with each other on who got the worst one. Connie Springer won with a solid 0%. It was a good thing that pretests weren’t graded in Connie’s case._ _

__Mr. Pixis walked down Levi’s row next and handed the teenager his pretest with a bright smile, “have you taken psychology before?”_ _

__Levi glanced at his score. _98%_. “No,” he responded, folding his paper and shoving it in his textbook, “my mom was a psychologist. She used to teach me a couple of things.”_ _

__Mr. Pixis just continued to smile politely, and with a nod, he turned and walked back up the row. After he was out of earshot the kid in front of Levi turned around with a huge grin on his face._ _

__“What’d you get?” He showed Levi his score of 10%. In an obviously sarcastic tone, he said: “I genuinely think I fuckin’ killed this pretst. Imma be a fuckin’ scholar after high school.”_ _

__Levi failed to not notice the guy’s appearance. He had the weirdest colored hair Levi had ever seen. The top of his head was bleached so lightly it was almost white, and the sides of his head were colored an almost dirty blonde. Levi thought that his name might be Jean, since they had pre-calc together last year, but he didn’t want to falsely assume so he would try to avoid using names._ _

__“I can tell,” Levi snarked back, joking with his classmate, “I did worse than you” Levi didn’t like talking about his actual score and having to explain why it was so good. He didn’t want to have to bring up his mother._ _

__“Damn,” (maybe) Jean said with a smirk, “I expected at least a 60 from you, Ackerman, but I guess not everyone is as smart as _me_ in every single class.” _ _

__Levi just rolled his eyes._ _

__Mr. Pixis clapped his hands a few times, which made Jean turn around and face the front of the room again. It was his famous way of getting the classes’ attention, and it worked like a charm every single damn time because no one wanted to make Mr. Pixis _triggered.__ _

__“Well, these first two weeks were great, but you all knew that it was coming.” He lifted an all-too-familiar brown clipboard that had the words “SEATING CHART” written across the back in black sharpie._ _

__Everyone groaned and slowly stood from the seats they had already grown accustomed to. Friends glanced at each other with a sliver of hope in their eyes and couples held hands like they were about to be seperated for life. However, Levi just casually stood with his binder and books down by his side, waiting for his assigned seat to be stated. He didn’t care all that much about his seat, but he secretly hoped that he wouldn’t be in the middle of the classroom._ _

__“Okay, so in the front row we have Arlet, Lenz, an empty desk, Springer, and Bodt.”_ _

__Those who were called took their seats without complaint since they were obviously by people that they were acquainted with._ _

__“Second row is Leonhart, Braun, Hoover, Braus, and Kirstein.” Before Pixis even finished the list, Berthdolt and Reiner high fived and took their seats, automatically falling into conversation with one-another. (maybe) Jean smiled and took his seat behind Marco, also starting up a chat with one of his apparent best friends._ _

__“And the last row is Kefka, Wagner, an empty desk, Ackerman, and Jaeger.”_ _

__Without much thought, Levi took his sight with a small thank you being sent to no one in particular- probably Pixis. He had gotten a seat that he was actually relatively okay with. It wasn’t the back corner but at least it was in the back and not in the dead center. Plus, he wasn’t by anyone that was really annoying or who would try to talk to him while he was trying to learn. It was great._ _

__Levi recognized the kid that sat next to him but he couldn’t remember his name. Of course, he knew his last name at this point. He had seen it a ton at football games and heard it just a second ago coming from his teacher’s mouth, but he couldn’t remember the kid’s first name for shit._ _

__He finally decided that he didn’t really care and listened to the teacher give directions to open their textbooks to page 15 and get out our notebooks to take notes. After all, when was Levi going to have to talk to the kid? Probably never._ _

__“Hey,” came a deep and smooth voice from the right of Levi. To be quite honest, it scared the shit out of him because he didn’t know who the voice came from. “Do you have a pencil that I can borrow?”_ _

__Levi turned his head and stared at the Jaeger kid who was looking at him expectantly. Since when the fuck did that dude sound like that? Last year he had a… _normal_ voice… now, it was… Levi genuinely didn’t know… it made him lose his train of thought. Like, a lot. He had no idea what he was thinking about before Jaeger had said something._ _

___What did he just ask me?_ _ _

___Oh._ _ _

___Pencil._ _ _

__

__“Yeah,” Levi replied boredly as he grabbed and held out his spare mechanical pencil. Jaeger took it gratefully and offered a quick “thanks,” flashing a brief, blinding smile to Levi before he turned to face the front again._ _

__Even after Jaeger turned in the other direction, Levi continued staring at him for a few long seconds, studying the side of his face and strong jaw. With a weird feeling tugging at the bottom of his stomach, Levi turned his head and tuned himself back into Pixis’ lecture about behaviorism._ _

__

____

___________________________

For the rest of the day, Levi felt slightly jittery and anxious, like he did before a huge test or something incredibly important. He didn’t know why. There was absolutely no reason forhim to be acting like this, but of course, he quickly brushed it off every time his mind reminded him of the butterflies in his stomach. He wasn’t going to let it distract him through the rest of his classes.

But that’s exactly the thing that happened. 

He couldn’t focus through calc even if his life depended on it, and AP English was even worse. After reading the same page of _The Crucible_ for the fifth time and still not retaining any of the reading, Levi slammed the small playbook shut and stood from his desk with a small rattle. 

Everyone in the room looked up from their own books and stared at him as he crossed the room to the teacher’s desk, where he then asked if he could go down to the library to choose a different book because his apparently wasn’t “entertaining” enough. The english teacher agreed and told him to grab the hall pass as he went and Levi was quickly on his way, leaving the door open just by a crack so he could get back inside without having to knock. 

The library was quiet and peaceful, just how Levi liked it. There were a few students typing away on computers on the left side of the large room, but besides that, the entire place was basically silent. It was perfect for him to just sit down and sort out his thoughts for a few minutes- maybe even take a nap at one of the tables in the far corner. 

_Yeah,_ he thought, _that sounds really fucking nice._

He made his way over to the corner of the library and sat down, pulling out his phone to check his phone for text messages or any new snapchats. There were a few videos that Hange sent of the two of them at lunch and her saying stupid shit while the both of them were trying not to laugh. There was also a text from Kenny saying that he was going to out late again tonight. Levi deleted the message without fully reading it. 

Sighing, he tucked his phone back into his pocket, crossed his arms, and was about to try to take a quick nap, when suddenly, someone was standing right next to his chair. At first he thought that it was the librarian telling him to put his phone away, but as his eyes darted up, he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. 

He felt his throat go dry at the sight of Jaeger standing in front of him with a small smile.

“Hey,” he said, confidently and smoothly, his voice low and calm as he shoved his hands in his front pockets. 

Levi swallowed and uncrossed his arms, “hi?” It almost sounded like a question and instantly, he felt rude as fucking hell. 

Jaeger’s face fell for a second before he regained his smile, “um, here’s your pencil from earlier… I thought that you’d want it back.” He pulled the blue mechanical pencil out of his pocket and offered it to Levi. 

Levi stared at it for a second and reached out to grab it with gentle fingers, “thanks, yeah, I only have a few of these left.” He let out a small laugh, which made Jaeger appear to relax.

“Well, thanks for letting me borrow it,” Jaeger said with a smile.” He looked like he was about to turn and leave the library before Levi spoke.

“Hey… um, sorry, but uh, I forgot what your name was?” Levi wanted to actually punch himself in the face.

 

Jaeger smiled and shoved his hands back into his pockets, “It’s Eren.”


	2. Zoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Hange study for their upcoming calculus test and a certain someone pays a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this sucks im so sorry i shouldve just kept my old ao3 account instead of making a new one what the actual fuck is wrong with me
> 
> please castrate my invisible balls with a rusty fork

A few weeks passed since that encounter with Eren in the library, and Levi had to say that he had almost forgotten about the guy entirely despite having class with him. Levi had dove headfirst into his studies with the first tests of the year starting to quickly approach and suddenly found himself preoccupied with going over to Hange’s house to study after school. He didn't have any spare time to pause and think about some kid that he barely knew. 

Usually, it was just Levi and Hange who would study after school, but, on occasion, one or two of Hange’s friends would join them. First it was Krista Lenz and Armin Arlert on around the second day, and then it was just Jean Kirstein by himself on the the fourth. Levi wasn’t really upset by some of Hange’s friends joining their studies because, to be honest, they weren’t annoying and were actually quite smart. Levi would’ve rather found a way to hate them, but really, he couldn’t. They just didn’t do enough to annoy him. 

Levi and Hange were sitting on her bedroom floor studying for the first calculus test when Hange’s phone suddenly rang. That night, it was just the two of them, which Levi was thankful for because he had a particularly shitty day at school. 

Hange reached over Levi’s books that were sprawled about to grab her phone. She briefly checked the caller ID before smiling and putting her phone by her ear.

“Hey,” she greeted, shutting her calc book, standing, and walking out of the bedroom. Levi stared at her retreating form with a seed of confusion planting in his mind. But he didn’t really think much of it. It was probably Moblit calling from college to check in on his girlfriend- which he did on an almost daily basis. It was almost annoying. He called like clockwork.

Levi glanced back down at his notes and tried to make sence of the chicken scrawl that he had quickly scribbled down as their professor blew through that day’s lesson. However, it was really hard to understand what he had written. He sighed. He would probably have to ask Hange to borrow her notes for the test and then give them to her before her calc period took it. 

As he quickly made a mental note to actually write in legible handwriting during their next lesson, Hange walked back into the bedroom; pacing. It was an awful habit of hers that would show itself when she was talking on the phone. Whenever she was calling someone, she would wander around the house until she hung up. Levi never really knew where she was going to end up by the end of her call. 

“So,” Levi heard Hange say as she jumped onto her bed and walked across it, her hand on the ceiling for balance, “are you going to make it tonight? It’s just me and Levi here.” 

Levi’s eyes darted up to Hange. She was looking in the opposite direction, still on the bed. She laughed briefly and hopped off of her mattress, “yeah, same here.” There was a brief pause, “If you can’t make it tonight you can always come some other day- we’re here studying practically every single night… really? Okay, that’s great! See you then.” 

She hung up and rejoined Levi on the floor, not telling him anything about the call or who was coming over to study with them. That was something that really got on Levi’s nerves: when Hange failed to let him in on her plans for the evening and expected him to just conform to whatever happened. He watched her casually pick up her pencil and began scribbling in her notebook. 

“Who was that?” 

Hange glanced up, “one of my studying buddies.”

“Yeah, Levi responded with a roll of his yes, “I picked up that much.” He knew that his sarcasm was sometimes hard for Hange to get, but apparently she caught on this time and let out a small chuckle.

“Has anyone ever told you that it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

“Has anyone ever told you that it’s rude to invite other people over and not share this information with your friend?” 

Now it was Hange’s turn to roll her eyes, “nope, never.”

“Don’t be a smartass.”

“I’m not,” Hange groaned, “and it’s not even like this is a big deal. It’s just Eren. He’s smart and he’s not annoying so I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it. You never have hated any of my other studying buddies.” 

_Eren Jaeger?_

“Eren Jaeger?” Levi questioned, completely ditching his textbook. 

“Yeah,” Hange answered with a snort, “do you know another Eren? Last time I checked, it’s a pretty rare name.” 

Levi furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, “for all I could’ve know, you could’ve been talking about an A-A-R-O-N or E-R-I-N. You weren’t exactly specific. And you didn’t even ask to see if I was okay with him coming over.” He didn’t mean to sound so rude to his friend, but for some reason the idea of Eren coming to study with them made him slightly uncomfortable. His stomach was quickly filling with anxiety.

Hange’s entire mood took a complete 180, “what the fuck is your problem, dude?” She said, finally having enough of how rude Levi was being. She sat up straight and practically glared at her friend, “he’s not a bad guy and you’re making it sound like I invited Hitler over to study with us. You don’t even know him- so how can you not even give him a chance?” She almost stopped but then continued: “and this is _my_ house- I can invite whoever I want over here.” 

There was a moment of silence between the two; both of them waiting for the other to say something. After at least a solid thirty seconds of eye contact, Levi broke.

“Sorry, Hange,” he dropped his hands into his lap, “I just had a really bad day at school today. I don’t know what’s up with me.” 

Hange’s face of anger slowly relaxed, “it’s alright, dude. You just can’t make judgements before you really meet him, ya know? I didn’t mean to get all pissy with you. He’s been my friend since we were toddlers so I kind of felt like I had to defend him, I guess. We’re all gonna have bad days but that doesn’t mean you can just take it out on some guy you don’t even know.”

Levi nodded, “yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m sure he’s a great guy. New people just freak me out sometimes.”

His friend smiled and nodded, “I know.” She patted him on the shoulder, “but you don’t have to worry about anything with Eren, he’s really sweet.” 

“Yeah, I’ve met him before. In psychology. Needed to borrow a pencil or something.”

There was a beat of silence as Hange’s face morphed into confusion, “so, uh…” she cleared her throat, “why were you so angry that he was coming over? Doesn't that mean he’s not exactly a “new” person?” To her, there was no reason for him to be angry about Eren coming over since they had already met and seemed to be on decent terms since Levi hadn’t said otherwise. 

Levi shrugged, not really knowing the answer, “bad day, I guess? I’ve been really stressed with school starting and it’s kind of easy for me to snap.” He wasn’t even lying to her at this point- it was the genuine truth. He was extremely stressed about making sure that his grades were in order. And on top of that, he was doing college visits every other weekend, constantly emailing college representatives, and filling out application forms. 

“Senioritis?” Hange asked with a laugh. Levi nodded with a shared chuckle. 

They slowly fell back into a shared, peaceful silence for the remainder of the evening before Eren showed up. The two friends were just starting to get ready to eat dinner with Hange’s parents when the doorbell rang. 

When Hange heard the noise, her head instantly shot up and she ran for the door to her bedroom. Levi chose not to follow and started to pack his books into his backpack. After dinner he would probably head out anyways. His uncle hated it when he stayed out too late on school nights- even though the man appeared to not care about Levi’s academic success. 

Hange’s footsteps thundered down the stairs (followed by her mom yelling at her for running down the staircase, in which Hange threw a half-assed “sorry” bac to her) and soon after, Levi heard the front door swing open. 

“Hey, buddy!” Hange yelled. Levi almost wanted to roll his eyes at her behavior as he stood and slung his backpack onto his shoulder. He listened to them exchange their greetings while he slowly made his way down the stairs and towards the entryway to the Zoe household.

Eren was in the process of kicking off a pair of Nike tennis shoes when Levi walked into the mud room. 

The brunette looked up as soon as he heard movement in the doorway and smiled, showing his bright, pearly whites, “hey, Levi.” His voice was deep and smooth, just how Levi remembered it. 

“Hey,” Levi glanced down at Eren’s attire, which was a pair of black basketball shorts that ended just about his knee and a matching plain black t-shirt. He looked away as soon as he realized that he was staring. 

“Are you leaving?” Hange butted in, her eyebrows furrowed. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she glared at Levi. 

Levi shook his head, “No, but I’ll probably have to take off after dinner- you know how pissy my uncle gets if I stay out too late.” He dropped his backpack from his shoulder and set it in a chair that was next to the door. 

Eren nodded in understanding, “my mom’s the same way, dude,” he turned his attention to Hange, “sorry it took so long for me to get here, practice ran a little late,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and ruffled up his already messy hair. “Jean kept on fucking up our plays so we had to keep restarting. Coach wouldn’t let us leave until he finally got them right.”

“You must’ve been there for a while then, ‘cause I’ve seen him play in games before and he fuckin’ sucks,” Hange claimed, putting her hands on her hips, “I don’t understand how he made the team.”

“You and me both.”

“Levi, Hange,” Hange’s mother popped her head into the mud-room, startling Levi. She was a shorter woman with dark brown hair and kind, gray eyes that were behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses, “dinner’s ready… and please shut that damned door!” Her tone instantly turned sour, “I have the AC running and it isn’t exactly chea- oh! My gosh, Eren! When did you get here?” Her face instantly brightened at the sight of her favorite friend of Hange’s. 

Eren offered the older woman a bright smile and finally shut the door behind him, “just a few minutes ago, Mrs. Zoe. I’m sorry about letting out all of your AC-”

“No, no!” Mrs. Zoe said with a clap of her hands, “it’s alright, no need to worry about it. You’ll be joining us for dinner, right, sweetie? I made enough spaghetti to feed a small army.” She barely gave the teen enough time to speak before piling more and more questions onto him about school and athletics, and how his mother was doing and how she wanted him to come over _more_ often for dinner.

Eren just continued to politely smile, “if it’s no trouble, I’d love to stay for dinner. And my mom’s doing great. She keeps _raving_ about the casserole you made for our dinner party.” 

Mrs. Zoe clapped her hands again with a sparkle in her eye, “of course it’s no trouble, and I’m glad to hear that she enjoyed it! I’ll have to give her my recipe.” Her face brightened with every passing second, “Now, go ahead and make yourself at home. I just pulled dinner out of the oven so, if you’d like, you can go take a seat at the table.” She didn’t offer this to her daughter or Levi- just Eren. It was clear to the two who the favorite was. 

“Can you tell that my mom’s obsessed with Eren?” Hange told Levi as soon as her mother was out of earshot. 

“No,” Levi drawed, “of course not.”

Eren just shook his head, “she’s not obsessed with me, she just enjoys having a polite child for once.”

Hange clutched her chest as her face scrunched up, “ouch.” She turned and started leading her two friends to the dinner table. 

Shrugging his shoulders, Eren only continued as they reached the dining room and took their seats, “hey, I speak nothing but the truth.”

Hange’s mom entered the room just seconds later with the first set of plates. Of course, she set the first one down in front of Eren, and then Levi. In the next load she served Hange and then herself. 

Eren’s plate was obviously the fullest. Levi could tell without even having to look.

They ate in relative silence besides both Levi and Eren claiming how delicious the food was in order to be polite. After dinner, Mrs. Zoe cleared the table and retreated into the kitchen, where she would most likely remain for the rest of the evening cleaning up dinner and washing the dishes. 

Keeping his promise, Levi left quickly after dinner with a hug to Hange. She exchanged her goodbyes with him before yelling to Eren, who was in the kitchen, that she would be upstairs studying, and that Eren could join her whenever. Levi offered her a small wave of his hand as she retreated up the stairs. 

Eren walked out of the kitchen soon after Hange shut the door to her bedroom, wiping his hands on his jeans, “leaving so soon?”

Levi nodded, refusing to smile again at his classmate. He decided that he had used up all of his smiles for the day, “yep, if I don’t get home soon my uncle will probably ground me for the month, right after beating my ass.” 

The two chuckled lightly while Levi leaned over to pick up his backpack.

As Levi said his final goodbye to Eren, the other teen suddenly pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to an extremely confused Levi. 

Eren smiled gently, “maybe we can hang out sometime and study for the next calc test.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. 

_Is he asking for my number?_

Levi looked down at the phone in his hand and realized that the contacts app was open.

_He’s asking for my number._

“Yeah,” Levi quickly typed in his number and handed the phone back to Eren. His heart was pounding a million miles a minute, and he didn’t know why. He had never felt this… _flustered_ in his entire life. 

_What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Clearing his throat, Levi then continued, “That’d be great.”

“Okay,” Eren’s smile widened, “see you tomorrow, then… in psych.” The conversation was slightly awkward since the two barely knew each other, but Levi found himself not minding all that much. 

Levi swallowed, “yeah, see you later, Eren”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for putting up with this monstrosity i appreciate it greatly


	3. Ackerman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange sucks at Fortnite. Eren's voice is starting to affect Levi's in ways that it shouldn't. Kenny's drunk. Mrs. Zoe's still obsessed with Eren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this suuuuuuuucks donkey dick. I also published this without editing it because I'm a fucking rebel. sue me. i dare your ass.

Levi woke up the next day to a screaming headache. 

He opened his eyes and glanced around his dark bedroom, just barely able to make out the form of his dresser and desk on the other side of the room. His head pounded from how much effort it was to move eyes from left to right. Rubbing at his face,, he groaned and rolled over in his bed. His alarm clock glowed a bright red _2:32 AM_ back at him. 

He sighed and sat up, tossing his covers off of his legs. Standing, he lazily scratched his bare chest and stumbled out of his bedroom into the dimly lit hallway. He decided to go downstairs to fetch himself a glass of cold water and a few ibuprofen. Hopefully, that would help his headache dissipate and allow him to sleep for another few hours before his alarm would go off. The last thing that Levi wanted the day before a huge test was to be awake all night. He would surely regret it in the morning. 

Downstairs was completely dark as Levi made his way through the living room and into the kitchen. The only light that helped him find his way came from the moon, which streamed in through the many windows of the house- but even then, it was barely enough to keep him from banging his shin into the coffee table. He missed it by not even a centimeter. 

Levi flicked on the kitchen light and covered his eyes with his hand, almost groaning at how obnoxiously bright the room became. 

“The hell is you doin’ sneakin’ ‘bout the house this late?” Kenny was seated at the kitchen with his feet tossed up onto the tabletop, lazily sipping on a half-empty bottle of hard liquor. 

Levi didn’t respond, only silently walking over to grab himself a cup to fill it with water from the sink. On the windowsill sat a bottle of ibuprofen, which Levi grabbed and poured out four into his palm- a higher dosage than what he usually took for pain. 

“Never saw you as the pill-popper type,” Kenny took another sip of his whiskey and grimaced. 

“Got a headache,” Levi finally responded, tossing the pills into his mouth and chasing them with a sip of water. He stared at the alcohol in his uncle’s grasp, “and you’re probably gonna have one too if you keep drinkin’ like that.” 

Kenny sighed, “I’ve been drinkin’ like this since I was 12, I’d say that my tolerance is pretty fuckin’ high.”

“Didn’t ask,” Levi said as he set his cup down in the sink, “and I’m going to bed.” He stopped by the doorway, “do you want this light on or off?”

Kenny sunk down farther into the wooden chair he was seated in, “off. Damned thing’s hurtin’ my eyes.”

Levi nodded and muttered a small “night” under his breath. He flicked off the lights.

__________________________

Levi surprisingly found the test the next day extremely easy despite his lasting headache- in fact, it felt almost as if it were child’s play. He walked out of the classroom without a single worry in his mind about the grade that he would receive.

Hange was already waiting for him at his locker. 

“How’d it go?” Hange watched him put in the combination to his locker. 

Levi reached into his binder and pulled out the notes that Hange had let him borrow and handed them to her. She took the stack of papers with gentle fingers and set them on top of the pile of books in her hands.

“Great- it’s really easy, so you’ll definitely be fine with it. Question 16 is a little tricky though, but one of the practice problems in your notes is almost identical to it, so you can just use that as a guide when you get that far.”

“Is it all multiple choice?” Hange moved out of the way so another student could get to their locker that was by Levi’s. 

Levi pulled out his bag for P.E., “most of it, there’s a few in the end that are free-answer but they’re ridiculously easy.” 

Hange’s face instantly relaxed, “great, thanks, Levi. See ya later.” 

“See ya,” Levi watched her walk away for a few seconds before he slammed his locker shut and tossed his bag onto his shoulder. 

He made it almost the entire way to P.E. before Eren passed him in the hall with a few of his friends. They held eye contact for only a few seconds, but for Levi, it felt like an eternity as he watched those green eyes bore into him. 

Eren leaned over towards one of his friends, said something to him, and slapped him lightly on the back. Then, he was walking in Levi’s direction with a smile on his face. 

“Hey,” he said as he got close to the shorter teen, “how’d the test go?” He easily fell into stride with Levi, following him to his next class despite the fact that he had originally been going in the opposite direction. 

Levi shrugged, “it was pretty easy.” He glanced over and saw Eren staring at him expectantly. Clearing his throat, he continued, “did you already take it?” 

Eren shook his head, “nope.” Holding up his books he smirked, “heading there now.” 

Glancing down at the textbook that was in Eren’s hand, Levi furrowed his eyebrows, “isn’t calc in the other direction?” He gestured his hand down the hallway to prove his point. 

“Yep,” the brunette shrugged, “I’ve got time, though.” 

Levi didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just continued to walk in-stride with Eren towards the gym. 

“Uh, I was meaning to ask you,” Eren suddenly said, making the other teen glance over, “if you wanted to hang out sometime this weekend- I have a game on Friday night but after that I’m free for all of Saturday and Sunday.” the words rolled so easily off of his tongue that Levi almost dead-ass stopped in the middle of the hallway. 

He wanted to say something along the lines of _why?_ or, _I barely even know you,_ but he really didn’t want to be rude to Eren. He seemed like a nice enough guy and what was wrong with hanging out with someone over the weekend? Everyone did it- it’s not like it was weird. Yeah, it was fast… but that’s just how teenagers were: fast paced. 

“Uh, sure. I’m free all weekend.” 

His words made Eren’s smile widen, “great! I’ll text you later about it. See ya, Levi.” He waved to Levi as he quickly took off in the other direction to make it to his calculus class on time- leaving Levi stand there, shocked, in the middle of the hallway.

He was _so_ confused.

And yet, he found himself counting down the days until the weekend.

_______________

That night, Levi made his way to Hange’s with his mind full of buzzing thoughts. Nothing really in particular… he just found it more difficult than usual to organize what was going on in his head.

He knocked on Hange’s front door and stepped back, checking his phone screen for the time. 7:34. Later than usual. 

Hange’s mother answered it soon after he knocked and ushered him inside, “hello, Levi, how are you doing?”

“Fine, thanks,” he kicked off his shoes and lined them up next to the door, “is Hange up in her room?” He looked down at the floor and recognized a pair of muddy, black, Nike tennis shoes haphazardly tossed in the corner of the room.

“Yes, you can go ahead and head on up. We’ve already had dinner, but if you’re hungry I can heat up some leftovers?” She smiled gently. 

“No, I’m alright,” Levi started walking towards the staircase, “I ate before I came, thank you, though.”

Mrs. Zoe headed back into the kitchen, “anytime, Levi. Have fun studying.”

Before Levi even reached the top of the stairs, he could hear the familiar sound of Hange laughing obnoxiously loud from her bedroom. He entered without knocking and saw Hange laying on her stomach on her bed, still red in the face from laughing so hard, and Eren on the other side of the room in a beanbag chair, chuckling lightly. They both looked at the door as Levi entered and smiled almost in synch. 

“Hey, Levi,” Eren said, straightening up in his seat. Hange offered the other boy a small wave and rolled over onto her back, holding her phone above her face- a dangerous move, in Levi’s opinion. He wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up dropping it on her face. 

“The test scores just got entered in online,” she said. 

Levi instantly pulled out his phone to check Powerschool, “really? So what’d you get?” He opened the app and refreshed the page.

“I got an 86,” she said with a frown. Levi thought that was a decent score for her, but of course, in Hange’s standards, that wasn't good enough. Anything below an a-minus was practically failing in her book.

To raise her spirits, Levi smiled, “nice, that studying paid off.” He looked down at his phone and saw his score. 99%. 

“What’d you get?”

Levi turned off his phone, “a 99.”

Hange frowned, “fuck you.” 

“What did you get, Eren?” Levi asked, turning to the other teen who was still sitting down in the beanbag chair. 

He looked up from his phone, “same as you. And I even know which problem I got wrong,” he looked almost disappointed but still kept a smile on his face.

Levi kept looking at him, “problem 8?”

Eren nodded, “yeah- was that the one you think you got wrong, too?”

“Yeah,” he fought a smile off of his face, “I just-”

“Didn’t understand it?” Eren finished for him. The two smiled at each other and laughed, making Hange flip back onto her stomach and stare at them knowingly. She cleared her throat to gain their attention. 

“So… how did you two do so well and I did so shitty?” She pouted. 

Levi rolled his eyes, “for fuck’s sake, four-eyes, you didn’t do that bad. It’s a B-plus, it’s not going to fuck up your four-point.” 

“Easy for you to say,” the girl shot back, “you’re the one with the 99.” 

“Really,” Eren reassured, “he’s right, it’s not going to affect your grade at all. You can’t worry about it that much, Hange.”

Hange sighed, sitting up in her bed and glancing over at hm “I suppose you’re right… I need to stop worrying about it so much,” laughing, she then continued, “plus I’ve got a lot of time to make it up, too.” She dangled her legs over the end of her bed and kicked them back and forth, “so, since we don't have to really study for anything tonight, what do you guys wanna do? Sorry, my house is kind of boring.”

“Do you still have Moblit’s PS4?” Levi quickly asked.

_____________

“Oh wow,” Levi said as he watched Hange fall off of the side of the map, “you really _do_ suck at Fortnite.”

“I do not!” She claimed, handing the controller to Eren for his turn, “I just need to warm up, that’s all. I haven’t played since last year!” Eren snickered at her claims and entered a match, crossing his legs on the floor and getting himself comfortable. 

Levi glanced down at Eren’s outfit, consisting of grey sweatpants and a solid white t-shirt. He looked back at the TV, feeling his face warm up at the realization that he was staring at Eren’s body.

“Where should I drop?” Eren asked Levi, flashing him a small smile with an almost child-esque look to it. 

“Um,” Levi thought for a moment, “be a big-boy and drop Tilted.” He almost wanted to laugh at the bored look that Eren gave him in response. 

“Really? I could drop Tilted in my _sleep_ ,” smirking, he placed his marker on the map and jumped out of the party bus, “I doubt that _you_ could be confident enough to say that.” He opened his umbrella and slowly descended to a nearby building, landing and breaking through the roof to get to a chest.

Levi snorted, “gassing yourself up, much? Don’t set yourself up for disappointment,” he teased, watching Eren drink two mini shields and pick up a green AR. “And even if you _do_ do well, it’s probably because people are taking it easy on you since you’re a no-skin.”

“Hey!” Hange snapped, slapping Levi on the shoulder, “I’m sorry that I don’t want to spend _real_ money on a video game!” 

He laughed as Eren shot down the clock-tower, killing two people that were fighting on the top, “okay, that was fall damage- it doesn’t really count.” 

Eren’s voice was deep and smooth, “yes, it does, Levi.”

Levi found himself having to stutter for words as he heard Eren say his name like that. And he didn’t know why. All he knew, was that he wanted to hear him say his name like that again. 

Yawning, Hange checked her watch, “shit, how is it already 10?” She stretched her arms over her head.

Looking at her in disbelief, Levi stood up, “really? Fuck, I have to get home, like, right now,” he ran his fingers through his hair, “Kenny will fucking kill me if he finds out that I’m out this late.”

“I’ll drive you home,” Eren said almost instantly, handing the PS4 controller to a startled Hange as he stood up and brushed off his jeans.

Levi was shocked, to say the least, “no, it’s fine, I can walk home- I don’t live that far-”

The brunette refused to listen to Levi and grabbed his backpack from where it was sitting in the corner of the room, “thanks for letting us come over, Hange.”

Hange shrugged, “you guys know you can come over whenever you want to,” Hange was sniped from building in front of her and she groaned in frustration, gripping her controller dangerously tight, “and thanks for making me feel bad about my Fortnite skills- it feels really great to have so much support from my friends.” 

Smiling sarcastically, Levi patted her on the shoulder, “that’s what friends are for.” He grabbed his phone from where it was charging on one of Hange’s chargers and shoved it into his pocket, “well, see you tomorrow, don’t stay up too late.”

Hange muttered something under her breath and ignored the duo as they walked out of her bedroom and down the stairs. Mrs. Zoe met the two by the front door and hugged each on their way out, obviously hugging Eren for a longer amount of time and praising how kind and well-mannered he was, and how Hange _really_ needed to take after him. Of course, the teen just smiled and bid her farewell, as did Levi.

Eren’s car was nothing special. It was a tan, 1993 Honda accord, and to be frank, quite ugly. But Levi didn’t have room to complain because it was better than what he had back at home- which was nothing.

“Sorry,” Eren said with a laugh, opening up the drivers door and slipping inside, “it isn’t exactly the nicest car, but it gets me where I need to go.” He shut the door but had to push it back open to slam it shut even harder than before since it didn’t fully close the first time.

“It’s alright, I don’t even have a car so I’m kinda jealous,” Levi tried to open the passenger door but it didn’t budge. 

“Oh,” Eren leaned over and opened it from the inside for him, “yeah, it doesn’t open from the outside.” 

“Still jealous,” Levi laughed, sitting down and setting his backpack between his legs on the floor. The seat was surprisingly comfortable, despite what he expected from the exterior. 

They sat in silence as Eren tried to start the car, and for a long minute, Levi thought that Eren’s car was probably dead or out of gas- however, it eventually sputtered to life, which made the taller of the two close his eyes and practically thank God for this miracle. 

“So, what’s your address?” Eren put the car in drive and pulled to the end of Hange’s short driveway.

Levi gave him his address and directed him through the dark streets to his house. As they pulled onto Levi’s street, he pointed to his house and had Eren park across the street from it so Kenny wouldn’t hear the car pull-up. 

“Thanks for taking me home,” Levi said, turning to Eren.

The other boy just smiled, “anytime, Levi.” 

_God, why did his voice have to be so nice?_

Feeling as if he was forgetting something, Levi opened the car door and stepped outside into the street, swinging his bag onto his shoulder. He felt so _empty_ as he put his hands on the top of the car and leaned down to bid goodnight to Eren, which made him just smile even wider than before. 

“I’ll see you around, Levi.”

“Yeah. Now comes for the hard part, though… getting inside without waking Kenny,” Levi grinned at Eren as he turned to walk across the street to his house. He didn’t use the front entrance though, he walked around to the side and climbed up the house’s brick chimney to his window, pushing it open and practically falling inside. If _that_ noise didn’t wake Kenny, the man was probably dead, deaf, or even both. 

He stuck his head out of the window and waved to Eren, who was now just starting to drive away. As soon as Levi thought that he might’ve been quiet enough to have been undetected by Kenny, Eren’s car let out a long, horn sound- which was obviously coming from Eren’s hand pressed against the steering wheel.

 _That cheeky, little bastard,_ Levi thought with a chuckle, not finding himself mad at him at all. He shook his head and shut the bedroom window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> muchas gracias por leer. lo siento, mis amigos.


	4. Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long guys, I've been hella busy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really proofread this because im really tired so ill look at it later bye

Levi rolled his mechanical pencil across his desk, staring intensely at the psychology test laid out in front of him. The dull noise of the plastic lightly scraping against the desktop soothed his overworked mind, which was currently pulsing with the continuing headache from several days prior. 

He never really had issues with tests. He had always been an incredibly bright student and never seemed to struggle due to how well he usually paid attention during his teachers’ lessons. However, the constant and relentless _throbbing_ behind his eyes was more than enough to have him distracted from remembering all of the details of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theory of dreams. 

Dropping his pencil onto the desk, Levi rubbed at his forehead. He couldn’t tell if he had a fever. 

He would also _much rather_ be laid out in bed at home than staring at the pristine, freshly printed test packet that was doing nothing other than escalating the pain he was in. Sighing, he closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind… to no avail. His thoughts were practically on a repeating track at this point. Luckily, it was Friday, and he only had to put up with this bullshit for a few more hours.

One thing that Levi wasn’t about to do though, was go bitch and whine to his teacher to let him go down to the office to take a nap in the nurses’ lounge, or ask to be dismissed from school early. There was no way in hell that he would get Kenny to take him to the doctor’s- meaning, it would be an unexcused absence that would negatively affect his current standings of being able to exempt from an exam in the winter. 

_”The joys of being a high school student,”_ Levi reopened his eyes and dropped his hands, finally deciding to power through the rest of the test to just get it over with. He would eventually have to take it anyways, and from the looks of things, he doubted that his brain was going to let up on this headache for a while. 

“Hey, are you alright?”

Levi practically jumped a foot in the air at the sudden noise that was practically in his ear. Immediately, he knew who the voice belonged to. There was no mistaking it. 

“Headache,” he answered curtly to Eren, not wanting to get accused of cheating by his Psych teacher, but that didn’t seem very likely, since Pixis was currently 20 minutes into a nap and was just beginning to snore. 

A few students near the duo looked up from their tests and shot them a glare, ones that obviously said that they needed to shut up. Levi didn’t even blame them for the looks, he wasn’t really in the mood for chatting either. 

While continuing onwards with answering the questions to his best ability, he saw Eren pick up his bag from the corner of his eye and begin rummaging around in it. Levi attempted to ignore it at first, but after a while, it began to annoy him to the slightest degree, so as he turned to him to ask him to politely put his bag away before Levi actually socked him in the jar, a tanned hand shoved a familiar pill bottle straight into Levi’s face.

Not actually, but close enough to the point where it made him lean back. 

_Motrin._

God, as much as he was in a bitchy mood, he could actually kiss Eren for coming to his rescue like that. 

Wordlessly, he took the pill bottle and offered the brunette somewhat of a smile to show his gratitude. He took two of the pills dry before handing it back to Eren, and he took it back while practically beaming with joy at being able to offer some kind of aid to his classmate. 

“Thanks,” he muttered, earning an annoyed _Shhhh_ from one of the girls in the front of the classroom. 

Eren smiled at him.

 

-

 

Around five that night, just after having woken up from a well deserved nap, Levi received a text from Hange. 

_hange_ :

_yo are you coming to the game 2nite? eren just texted me and said that it was cool if we went. we’ll go out to maria’s afterward_

As much as pizza was tempting, (not to mention, the fact that Eren had gone out of his way to invite the two of them to the game,) Levi just didn’t have the energy to go sit out in 50 degree weather all night and deal with that many people screaming and cheering. 

_levi_ :

_nah i think im just going to hang out at home. My head's been killing me all day_

Pressing send, he buried his face back into his pillow. Seconds afterwards, his phone buzzed from where it was lying next to him in his bed.

 _hange_ :

_bummer. eren got all excited too when i told him that you could probably come. Ill tell him you cant make it._

_ill save you a slice from marias_

Damn... was Hange trying to make him feel guilty for missing Eren’s game? They weren’t even that close as friends, to be entirely honest, so why would he even care that Levi wasn’t feeling up to going to his game? Truth is, he probably wouldn’t- and they already had plans for this weekend, so it wouldn’t be like Levi was completely blowing him off. He also doubted that Eren was excited at the idea of Levi coming to watch him play football, too.

 _levi_ :

_ok thanks, tell him im sorry tho, im really feeling pretty shitty_

God, why did he feel so bothered at the idea of Eren getting sad over him not coming, though? It was probably a ploy from Hange to try to get Levi out of the house, but it still bothered him; the idea of Eren smiling and chatting with Hange, and then looking up to the stand to only see one person there instead of two. 

Levi flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling, hands intertwined atop of his chest. 

A car drove past his house.

Birds outside chirped happily under the slowly falling sun. 

How much time had passed? Levi couldn’t tell. 

He was too busy pulling on his shoes. 

 

-

 

Pulling up behind the stands by the football field was a new experience to Levi- especially with how many cars were littering the parking lot, as well as the many faces that he recognized from the hallways at school passing his vehicle and making their way to the entrance. 

He stepped out of his car and haphazardly threw on a hoodie that was in his backseat, a dark green one with his school’s mascot on it- a black silhouette of a large, humanoid creature which no one at the school really knew what it was. 

It was already starting to cool outside, so he didn’t bother with pulling down the hood and fixing his hair to look slightly presentable. Plus, he was going to stay until about half time and then leave so he could go back to sleep. Even standing in line waiting to pay for entry was making his eyelids feel heavy. 

He paid the five dollar entry fee, had his hand stamped (a little, dark green smiley face), and meandered through the gates that surrounded the track. 

Inside was even more packed than Levi had realized, the stands overflowing with rowdy teenagers and the parents of the players standing on their feet and cheering, as well as a few yelling obscenities when the opposing team did anything that was slightly in their own favor. 

Instantly, he saw Hange at the very top of the bleachers by the announcer’s box, holding up a white paper bag of popcorn and cheering for their hometeam. Popcorn was flying everywhere at that point- and Levi had to say that he wasn’t very surprised by his friend’s actions. 

She didn’t even notice Levi’s presence until he sat down directly next to her and reached a hand into her popcorn bag, snagging a good portion of it. 

“What’s the score?” He asked, gazing across the field where he easily picked out Eren in his #15 jersey. 

Hange practically screamed in excitement.

“Levi! You actually came!” She genuinely seemed surprised at the appearance of her friend. Levi just simply nodded and continued to watch as Eren sprinted down the field with the football cradled against his chest. He ran straight past the opposing team’s defences and easily scored for Trost, making everyone on the home team's bleachers cheer. The cheerleaders who were standing on the track yelled in excitement, waving pom-poms in the air.

_Damn was he fast._

Eren tossed down the ball and celebrated with his friends, high fiving them and hitting each other on the helmets. The football coach clapped at his team from the sidelines, yelling something at them that couldn’t be understood from where Levi was.

Levi chewed his popcorn slowly, becoming slightly distracted by how well Eren looked in his uniform. The green jersey... the white pants that hugged him in all the right plac-

Suddenly, Eren was looking directly at him from the field. He took off his helmet and offered the raven a bright smile that was covered with a bright yellow mouth guard and an enthusiastic wave. Levi offered him a half-assed wave in return, feeling his face heat up slightly. 

Pushing back his sweaty hair, Eren slid the helmet back onto his head and turned back to his teammates, jogging away from the stands, turning momentarily to glance back at Levi with a visible grin on his face from behind his face gear. 

Levi swallowed as Hange tried to gain his attention, saying something about going back to the concession stands to get a hot chocolate, practically waving her hands in front of his face. 

However, Levi was currently having a crisis. There was no mistaking the way that his pulse sped up, or the way that his stomach suddenly felt fuzzy. 

He was fucked. 

He looked down at his feet. 

_So_ fucked.


	5. 50°

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi goes to Eren's game and gets to know him a bit better- for better and for worse, I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so fucking tired but I really wanted to update this since its been a fat minute.

As the sun slowly sank below the horizon, the temperature quickly followed behind. Levi was actually comfortable, considering that he had remembered to bring a sweatshirt to the football game. Hange, however, had a massive brain fart and decided that wearing a t-shirt would suffice in 50 degree weather… as she was currently sitting on the cold metal bleachers while freezing her ass off. 

Levi had repeatedly offered to buy her a school sweatshirt from the concession stands, but every time she simply refused, saying that she “just needed to get used to the cold” and that it “wasn’t that bad,” all while barely being able to get out a sentence from her teeth chattering loudly. Quite frankly, Levi didn’t want to do it out of the kindness of his cold, dead heart, but to get her to shut up. 

Eventually, he gave up and pulled his sweatshirt over his head, throwing at Hange more aggressively than intended. It made an almost “whipping” noise as it swung threw the air and smacked her in the head with its long sleeves. 

“I’m not taking your fucking sweatshirt, Levi,” Hange said without question, trying to give it back to her friend after peeling it from her head. Her face made it obvious that she was going to force it back onto Levi’s body if he didn’t take it back.

Levi just rolled his eyes and ignored her, propping his feet onto the empty bleachers in front of him, “I was getting hot anyways, plus, it’s not even that cold- you’re just a little bitch sometimes.” He heard her sputter for a comeback but he continued to look at the field, eyeing a very specific player while smirking to himself.

Hange must've given up because Levi soon heard her shoving the sweatshirt over her head while grumbling in slight protest- but all the while looking pleased because of the warmth that started to envelope her body. 

Already, Levi was starting to feel a bit cold. The game was almost over, anyways, so he wouldn’t have to sit out in the elements for much longer. He could feel his skin start to raise and tighten because of the temperature, and he absentmindedly rubbed his arms to ease the goosebumps forming.

“Levi-”

“Shh,” it wasn’t a soft and comforting “shh,” it was harsh and rough, leaving no room for questioning on Hange’s part. 

Suddenly, everyone in the home stands stood up and started cheering and screaming. Levi just realized that Eren had just scored the winning touchdown, and everyone on Trost’s team was clapping him on the back and shaking him- all while yelling and celebrating their win. He had been staring at the male for so long that he had basically lost track of the entire game.

Eren suddenly took off his helmet and let his messy hair fall into his face. Pushing it away, he said something to his team before jogging towards the sidelines. Levi thought that he was going to speak with his coaches about the game or talk to a trainer, but instead, he vaulted the fence and jogged up the bleachers to where Hange and Levi were sitting.

“Hey,” Eren was breathless from the game and running over to his friends. He pushed his messy hair out of his eyes again. He half spit out his mouth guard and let it hang out of his mouth, chewing on it as he offered the two a blinding bright smile.

Hange squealed and pulled the brunette into a hug without even a second thought. “Nice job, Eren! Out there makin’ us all proud!” She pulled back and smacked him on the shoulder pad with enough force that it probably would’ve hurt if he wasn’t wearing his gear. It reminded Levi of something a dad would do to congratulate their son on something. 

“I’m really glad you made it, Levi,” Eren said as he directed his attention from Hange to the other male. Levi suddenly felt extremely off guard, and he awkwardly sputtered for a response. He didn’t know why he was so nervous as Eren grinned at him, but whatever the reason was, it was suddenly extremely detrimental to Levi’s heart health. 

“Yeah, uh, any time,” he offered the other male a small smile in return- nothing in comparison to Eren’s, but definitely enough to the point where Eren’s smile widened even further and the mouthguard shifted from between his teeth. Levi should’ve found it gross that a spit-covered object was currently hanging from Eren’s mouth, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t stop staring at it. He honestly couldn’t tell if he was staring at the mouth guard, or, to put it simply, _Eren_. 

Hange gave the two an almost knowing smile as she watched them stare at each other for a solid 20 seconds, unmoving and just grinning like idiots. Eventually, some of Eren’s other friends started walking their way and she decided to break the silence with the subtle sound of her clearing her throat. 

Levi quickly dragged his eyes from Eren’s gaze and landed them on the small group of friends that was quickly approaching the trio. Eren seemed to notice this and turned, his grin not leaving as he saw his lifelong friends come up to him and give him their congratulations and complement his plays. Levi recognized Sasha, an all-state cross-country runner who everyone loved for her fun and hilarious personality, and Armin, one of the smartest kids in the school. 

A girl with black hair stepped forward and pulled Eren into a hug, congratulating him and telling him that she had to leave, but that she would see him later. She handed him a green varsity jacket, which Levi assumed to be Eren’s and that she had been holding it throughout the game for him. 

All of a sudden, Levi felt his heart drop into his stomach. God, he was such an idiot sometimes. He thought that Eren might’ve been trying to get to know him romantically, but he had just been trying to be nice… Probably because he thought that Levi was an awkward teenager who was in need of a friendship. Sometimes Levi wanted to smack himself upside the head. Of course he had a girlfriend. Of course he was straight. Why would Levi think anything otherwise? He was _Eren fucking Jaeger_. Levi had never even stood a chance... especially in comparison to the beautiful girl who was currently excusing herself from the group of friends.

Levi very quickly felt awkward in the situation that he was in. He decided to shut himself off from their conversation and wrap his arms around himself to preserve whatever warmth remained in his body. God, it was starting to get cold and his quickly souring mood was making the situation even worse. _Eren probably thinks I’m a fucking creep now, especially with how I was staring at him. Why am I such an idiot? All Eren was trying to do was make me feel included and be a good somaritin, and now he had to deal with a lame excuse of a person… a fag. Pathetic._

Hange definitely sensed Levi’s mood change- especially since there was currently a practically visible gray storm cloud hovering over his head. She also had a slight gut feeling as to what caused it as well, and all she could do was pity her friend in silence as she sat back down next to him. 

Levi’s sexuality had always been rather obvious to her... with them being best friends and all. Of course, she had never brought it up to him or questioned it directly to his face, because it wasn’t her job to out him or make him uncomfortable. And even now, she knew that she had to keep quiet, even though she wanted to pull him into a hug and tell him that everything would work out and not to get upset over stupid boys. 

Even if the “stupid boy” was Eren Jaeger. 

“Are you cold, Levi?” Eren suddenly asked, noticing a slight shiver that Levi emanated. Without even waiting for a response, he unfolded his varsity jacket and slung it around Levi’s shoulders- completely stunning the shorter male and making him glance up in confusion. 

Levi stuttered for words and he saw Armin raise an eyebrow while glancing between the two several times. He swallowed, “yeah, but, um, aren’t you cold after your game? I’m leaving soon anyways so-”

“Nope,” Eren interrupted, which sounded a bit weird because of the mouth guard. He pulled the yellow rubber from his mouth and dropped it into his helmet, “I’m all good, I’ve been running around all night so the air actually feels pretty nice.” He didn’t even leave his actions up for questioning or anything of the sort, he just kind of let it be and Levi was left to glance at Armin in confusion.

Guys usually don’t just lend their varsity jackets to other guys. It was sort of an unspoken rule that you only gave it to your girlfriends or something of the sort. If Eren loaned Levi a sweatshirt it might’ve been a little bit of a more play-off-able action. 

For some reason, Levi suddenly felt guilty. Eren was just trying to be nice to him again and now all of his friends were looking at the two like they were hiding something or like Eren was… well… gay. It was such a little action but for some reason it spoke for itself in a way, and it was making Levi feel a mixture of confusion, warmth, glee, and guilt all at the same time. 

However, it was hard to stay in such a negative mindset for much longer- especially with the scent and warmth of everything _Eren_ surrounding him. 

He didn’t even notice as his vision slowly faded out and his head fell onto Hange’s shoulder, his exhaustion from the school week finally catching up with the raven and sending him into a deep sleep. 

 

__________________

 

Levi awoke with a start as the car bounced over a pot hole. He scrambled to sit up right and take in his surroundings- confused and still sleepy from his unexpected nap. Eren glanced over from the driver’s seat and chuckled at Levi’s squinted eyes. 

“Mornin’, sleeping beauty,” he took his right hand off of the steering wheel and rested it on the center console, glancing at Levi and trying to force down the smirk that threatened to escape at Levi’s look of utter confusion. 

Levi yawned and stretched, which made Eren quickly glance away for whatever reason. 

“Where’s Hange?” He asked in a sleepy voice, glancing at the back seat to check for his friend. Eren just chuckled at his actions and shook his head. Levi noticed that he had changed into black adidas sweatpants and a gray track hoodie. The clock read 11:32 PM. _Not exactly “mornin’”._

“Well, she was originally going to take you home, but apparently, she forgot that she had a date with Moblit tonight after the game when he got out of work,” Eren glanced over before looking back towards the road, “so she kind of ditched you onto me. I can drive you by the school in the morning to pick up your car, if you’d like- i just didn’t want you driving home tired. I also didn’t want to wake you up though- especially with how tired you’ve seemed at school recently.”

Something about that made Levi’s heart fill with warmth. The fact that Eren had been paying enough attention to him to notice how he was feeling was more than enough to make a small smile stretch across his face. He didn’t even mind the fact that since Hange had left, they wouldn’t be able to go out and all get pizza together. 

“Yeah, thanks, I’ve kind of needed a nap lately- especially with all of the tests that we’ve had this week.” He rubbed at his eyes. 

Eren laughed, “tell me about it. I’ve had to stay up past midnight every day just to make sure that I have enough time to study and get my homework done.” The words came so easily to him that it made Levi almost jealous. Eren was such a good talker- if that was even some form of a complement. He could easily fall into a comfortable conversation with minimal effort and talk animatedly while still remaining composed and well-spoken. It wasn’t fair, to be quite honest. 

And just like that, the two easily fell into conversation, mostly on Eren’s account. The football player did most of the talking, but Levi didn’t mind all that much. He liked listening to Eren speak... 

Maybe a little too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epic yikes i am a terrible author. ok im gonna go play r6 now byeeee im also a major slut for comments even if its constructive criticism soooo <33333


End file.
